I thought I would never see something [url=http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=54390&Sn=BNEW]like this[/url] happening in Bahrain. The very thought would send you into a fit just a few short years ago, but now the Bahrain Human Rights Society is organising an art exhibition in one of the busiest malls on the island where artists would set up their easels and paint “live” in front of people their interpretations of the suffering of hundreds of Bahraini torture victims.
This event should do two very important things:
1. national reconciliation
2. will not allow us all in Bahrain to forget the atrocities of the past so that we don’t allow them to happen in the future
What I would like to see happen in Bahrain immediately is bringing these torturers, rapists, thieves to justice and take away their cloak. We should never reward these monsters. Sadly they’re all living “normal” daily lives amongst us, further enriching themselves with ill-gotten gains. They’re hiding behind a smoke-screen that will soon dissipate.
We also need a comprehensive training and education program for the police forces to teach them what democracy means from the ground up. They have been used as an instrument on torture, subjugation and humiliation in the past and they’re hardly equipped now to be “guardians of the peace”. They just don’t know it if it stared them in the face as their whole being was based on propping up corruption. This is evidenced by the huge rise in crime on the island. They’re just not equipped mentally to handle “proper” crimes.
Comments
Art Express
Sounds
like your copuntry has been through a huge transformation since the new king
took over. That’s both the good and the bad of absolute rule. Change can
be done overnight if the ruler sets his mind to it, whereas in a democracy
it can be slow and unwieldly progress due to political disagreement and stouches
in parliament, committees, etc. But just as human rights can be given by
a new regime, it can be taken away by another. Question is, would the changed
times allow it, or would the people once they’ve tasted freedom from oppression?
Such sudden changes of fortune is found throughout history of both the East
and West. Good kings ruling over a prosperous and peaceful time, or times
of conquest bringing prosperity to the nation if not the conquerored, followed
by a bad and cruel king, ruling by virtue of birthright, irrespective of
how incompetent, spoilt and cruel he may have been as a prince.
The same essentially happened in Spain of recent history; Franco took power
with a bit of assistance from other Western powers like Britain (more by
way of preventing the government from getting any assistance, funding or
weapons etc, where Franco had the best of German weaponry like the new Messerschmidt).
Franco brought back the old Spanish king and groomed him as a successor to
bring back the old Feudal days, but once Franco died, the king brought back
democracy. Naturally, he didn’t step down for having stood by all those years,
the good life was too good.
It’s scary how quick a people under a fascist regime (I’m not comparing the
old Bahrain) will turn to the regime’s ways, and an otherwise civilised people
turn savage and full of hate. And once it’s gone, they blend right into society,
becoming ‘productive’ members of society, not wanting to talk of the old
times, saying that was then, let’s think of tomorrow.
Even in municipalities in France where the right-wing anti-immigration parties
have gained control of cities, the policeforce quickly come out enforcing
their bigoted policies, feeling free to intimidate and beat up on minority
Eastern immigrants. If you want to breed religious extemist followers of
Al Qaida, treating them as second-class citizens and denying them the right
to any mosks at all, forcing them to set up unofficial ones run by the extremists,
this is a greatway of going about it.
Hate begets hate.
Well, enough venting for today :).
Martin
Inexperienced democracy
We have no real experience with democracy in Bahrain. The last parliament we had more than 30 years ago only survived for 2 year then disolved. We hope that this time around it will stay for much longer.
The MPs we have elected who might have very comendable ideals and want to do something for the country and its people, lack experience. I think less than a handfull participated in the last parliament which counts for some experience but not much. Times have changed since then, though they were politically active throughout their lives possibly.
The problems that I see now are manifold: inexperience leads to wasted sessions, incohesive opposition, maliability, and personal gratification, coupled with the government’s terror of “losing control” to inexperienced, albiet elected parliament puts enormous pressure on the whole country. That fear could well be founded as we have seen happen already, the Islamists taking control and want to change the country by force to an Islamic state (Shi’a or Sunni doesn’t matter here really) and judging all laws they are discussing, projects to be approved etc by their personal interpretation of Islam. If that was allowed to happen – even democratically – it will spell disaster for the country. A price too high to pay.
We need time to develop our democratic institutions. We need to develop political parties, and yes, we need more freedoms. But before all of that, we desperately need some kind of national reconciliation.
What we’ve got instead are two short-sighted laws passed before the newly elected parliament’s first session: Law 47 and Law 56. The first curtails press freedoms so much that if followed (and it is selectively) then it is estimated that about 90% of reporters will end up in prisson. The second and more contentious is 56 where everyone was pardoned for “crimes against the state” as well as ALL security personnel for any act conducted before the first session of parliament. That means that all the torturers, theives, rapists, and any public official mishandling their position and illegally enriching themselves have gone free. True that the “opposition” did practice underhanded things as well: blowing up gas cylenders, burning a few shops, attacking police during riots, rioting; but we feel that nothing that the opposition has done comes close to what these “officials” have done.
If no real attempt is made for clear and immediate relief for the torture victims by bringing their torturers to book – or at least a public apology and if the “new” laws: the press and pardon laws are not repealed, then there is no hope for democracy because it will end up meaningless.
Artists to express suffering of torture victims in Bahrain
Bahrain still has some issues it needs to work on.. I have never seen such “legalized slavery” in my life. the fact that someone can work for a family for over a year with no pay and never see the light of day with the exception of looking out a window brings tears to my eyes. I dont care where people are from, just because they are not bahraini does not justify treating them in such a way. I wondered why there were so many cases of ethiopian women committing suicide, then i saw for myself how they are treated. Something needs to be done about this.